The instant invention provides mixtures of C.sub.10 branched chain olefin epoxides which are used to augment or enhance the aroma of perfume compositions, colognes and perfumed articles.
Chemical compounds which can provide a woody, eucalyptol and minty aroma are desirable in the art of perfumery. Many of the natural materials which provide such fragrances and contribute such desired nuances to perfumery compositions are high in cost, unobtainable at times, vary in quality from one batch to another and/or are generally subject to the usual variations of natural products.
There is, accordingly, a continuing effort to find synthetic materials which will replace, enhance or augment the fragrance notes provided by natural essential oils or compositions thereof. Unfortunately, many of the synthetic materials either have the desired nuances only to a relatively small degree, or they contribute undesirable or unwanted odor to the compositions.
Aliphatic hydrocarbons are well known in the art of perfumery, e.g. myrcene, 2-methyl-6-methylene-2,7-octadiene, a constituent of lemon grass oil. Also found in lemon oil as well as in Bergamot oil, according to Gildemeister and Hoffmann, (Die Atherischen Ole, 3rd edition, Volume 1, page 301) is octylene, a long chain olefin containing eight carbon atoms.
Arctander, "Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, (Aroma Chemicals)", 1969, Vol. I, at monograph 974, discloses the use of "di-isoprene" in perfumery. Arctander states that di-isoprene is a mixture of 2,6-dimethyl-2,6-octadiene; 2,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadiene; and 3,6-dimethyl-2,6-octadiene. Arctander states that this material has a sweet, diffusive, somewhat "grassy" odor and, overall, is of very "little interest to the perfumer." At monograph 1074, Arctander discloses "dipentene" having a use in perfumery and indicates that this "dipentene" is 1-methyl-4-iso-propenyl-1-cyclohexene and indicates that it is useful in perfumery as a "lift" in citrusy fragrances and in the reconstruction of many essential oils such as Bergamot, Lime and Lemon.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,180 issued on July 22, 1975 discloses the use in perfumery of the cyclic diene epoxide having the structure: ##STR1## particularly for its woody, amber odor.
Other mono-epoxidized products of tri-methylcyclododecatriene are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,478 issued on Mar. 27, 1973. The uses in perfumery of such materials are also disclosed in said U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,478.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,333,010 issued on July 25, 1957 discloses epoxycyclododecadiene having the structure: ##STR2##
Nothing in the prior art however, discloses the compounds defined according to the generic structure: ##STR3## which would be produced from branched chain olefins having the generic structure: ##STR4## wherein R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, R.sub.4 and R.sub.5 are the same or different and each represents hydrogen or methyl with the proviso that (i) the sum total of carbon atoms in R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, R.sub.4 and R.sub.5 is three, and (ii) R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 represents hydrogen when R.sub.5 represents methyl, and (iii) with either R.sub.1 or R.sub.2 is methyl, R.sub.5 is hydrogen, the epoxide compounds being represented by the structures: ##STR5##
"Di-isoamylene" is indicated to be synthesized in the following references:
i--Murphy & Lane, Ind. Eng. Chem., Prod. Res. Dev., Vol. 14, No. 3, 1975 p. 167 (Title: Oligomerization of 2-Methyl-2-Butene in Sulfuric Acid and Sulfuric-Phosphoric Acid Mixtures). PA1 ii--Whitmore & Mosher, Vol. 68, J. Am. Chem. Soc., February, 1946, p. 281 (Title: The Depolymerization of 3,4,5,5-Tetramethyl-2-hexene and 3,5,5-Trimethyl-2-heptene in Relation to the Dimerization of Isoamylenes) PA1 iii--Whitmore & Stahly, Vol. 67, J. Am. Chem. Soc., December, 1945, p. 2158 (Title: The Polymerization of Olefins. VIII The Depolymerization of Olefins in Relation to Intramolecular Rearrangements. II) PA1 iv--U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,700, issued on Dec. 14, 1971, (Zuech) PA1 v--U.S. Pat. No. 3,538,181, issued on Nov. 3, 1970, (Banks) PA1 vi--U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,184, issued on Aug. 12, 1969 (Hay, et al) PA1 vii--Gurwitsch, Chemische Berichte, 1912, Vol. 2, p. 796 (Production of Di-isoamylene From Isoamylene Using Mercury Acetate Catalyst)
United Kingdom patent No. 796,130 published on June 4, 1958 discloses the synthesis of polyalkylindanes by means of, interalia, reacting alpha-methylstyrene with trimethylethene (2-methyl-butene-2) in the presence of an acid catalyst such as, sulfuric acid or boron trifluoride methyletherate It is further indicated that such compounds are useful intermediates in the production of perfumery compounds. Apparently however, the more volatile di-isoamylenes produced as side-products in the reaction of 2-methyl-butene-2 with alpha-methylstyrene are discarded.